Humana , a health benefits company with 6.6 million members, has partnered with ePocrates to deliver clinical information to the ePocrates handheld network. The network includes over 700,000 health professionals, 250,000 of which are physicians.

Under the agreement, Humana plans to integrate its Drug List into the ePocrates Rx drug reference for Palm OS handhelds. In addition, Humana will be the first health plan to directly communicate with its provider community through ePocrates DocAlert messages, interactive electronic text messages delivered directly to the home screen of the doctor's PDA.

"DocAlert messaging offers health plans the opportunity to send custom clinical messages to their provider community, such as announcements of drug recalls or changes to clinical guidelines, which can be saved on the PDA for future reference," says Richard Fiedotin, M.D, ePocrates' vice president of clinical products. "We are excited to work with Humana on this innovative e-business solution."

According to ePocrates, it currently provides pharmacy benefit information for health organizations that represent more than 85 million people.